Music of the heart guided by a keen intelligence.

Here is a brilliant new CD release by one of the masters of California's thriving new music scene...filled with melodic invention and fluid rhythmic tapestries, this is music of the Heart guided by a keen intelligence - Terry Riley. Howard Hersh was born in Santa Monica and studied piano and composition at Stanford University. Steeped in 20th century modernism, his music has expanded to embrace a variety of tonalities, dance rhythms and quotations, dramatic narratives and explorations of the social conscience. According to the composer, his work is driven by a search for "the nexus of musical abstraction and representational humanity." A recipient of grants and awards from organizations that include Meet the Composer, the American Symphony Orchestra League, the American Composers Forum and the Rex Foundation (the non-profit wing of The Grateful Dead), his works have been performed at Tanglewood, Grace Cathedral and throughout Europe. Together with his compositional work, Hersh has directed many new music groups, including Music Now and the San Francisco Conservatory New Music Ensemble, which he founded, and has served as Music Director of radio station KPFA-FM.